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An EMP is featured in the missions "Contingency" and "Second Sun," halting the Russian advance in the Russo-American War by stopping all air support, and confusing the Russian ground troops. It is triggered by Captain Price, who fires an ICBM at the end of "Contingency." Its effects, however, are not seen until "Second Sun."

Obtaining an EMP requires a killstreak of 15 (14 with Hardline). It also has a 0.87% chance of being in a Care Package. The EMP disables all enemy electronics, including most enemy killstreaks. Hostile players will have no HUD, and electronic attachments, such as the Red Dot Sight (except for the F2000's) and the Heartbeat Sensor, will be disabled. Their vision will also be slightly blurred. Any enemy Sentry Guns will be destroyed and all hostile air support will be rendered useless, except the Tactical Nuke. Enemy players will be unable to activate their own killstreaks while they are affected by an EMP. The effects of an EMP last for 60 seconds, but does not affect friendlies in Core.

This killstreak is one of the least used because of the large number of kills required to obtain it. However, should players attempt to use the EMP killstreak, the most effective other killstreaks to choose are Harrier Strike, Pavelow, Chopper Gunner or AC-130, as these are likely to earn many kills each, quickly adding to the user's killstreak.

The EMP returns in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as an 18-point Support pointstreak. The EMP functions exactly the same as the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 killstreak, but players using Assassin Pro will be immune to its side effects. However, as with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, they are unable to call in any pointstreaks while the EMP is active. Effects of an EMP are felt by the enemy team if the player calls in a M.O.A.B.. If the player is under the effect of an enemy EMP and tries to call in a killstreak it will say how many more seconds the EMP is still active. The only killstreak that can be used is the Ballistic Vests. The EMP also appears in the downloadable Special Ops mission "Kill Switch".

The EMP can be used in conjunction with a high-powered killstreak to devastate an unorganised enemy squad. It totally shuts down the enemy's electronic equipment and can be very demoralising to those affected. Even for players employing Assassin Pro, killstreaks will generally be destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperative. It is thus incredibly effective when used by a veteran team against an inexperienced one.

The EMP cannot affect players with Assassin Pro; they largely remain immune to the effects of this killstreak. Furthermore, the EMP does not stop certain killstreaks from being activated: notably, the Ballistic Vests can still be deployed, since this is a non-electronic reward. The EMP also cannot stop an Emergency Airdrop nor the M.O.A.B. from being activated.

EMP Systems is a Scorestreak reward in multiplayer, available for unlock at at level 39. It is achieved by scoring 1300 consecutive points without dying.

The EMP disables all enemy electronics for 40 seconds, including select attachments, tacticals, and all scorestreaks. Although scorestreaks are disabled (with the exception of K9-Unit), the points towards a scorestreak will still add up.

With the exception of players using the Hard Wired perk, all items in the HUD will also be removed (crosshairs, mini-map, ammo count, etc.) and the screen will turn fuzzy. When a player's EMP is active, they will be given 10 EMP assist points every time a teammate gets a kill, stacking with those from an UAV, Counter-UAV or an Orbital VSAT.

The EMP appears in Call of Duty: Heroes as EMP Artillery. It unleashes a barrage of EMPs that disable turrets and mines. It has an ammo of 5, deals 80 damage, has a damage range of 2.5, a performing range of 21 tiles, a buff time of 10 seconds, an effect range of 2.5 tiles, and a random range of 5 tiles. It is available to Price, Yuri, and Ghost. It is the last Hero Skill awarded to all three of them.

All killstreaks except Tactical Nukes, Emergency Airdrops and Stealth Bombers (in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 only) will be destroyed in the initial explosion when the EMP is activated. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 EMP's also disable, like a Tactical Nuke, the M.O.A.B will be unable to be called in for the 60 second of the EMP. The following effects will take place for the duration of the EMP for the opposing team:

Entire HUD disappears, including radar (unless the player is using Assassin Pro), crosshairs, heartbeat sensors, ammo count, game score, and timer (however, killfeed is unaffected); making the game appear like a Hardcore game for the affected team but with normal weapon damage and fuzzy vision.

ACOG Scope - Red reticule disappears, but the black reticule still remains. The EMP does not affect the SUSAT for L86 LSW (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 only), which does not use any electronics.

Hybrid Scope and HAMR - Both the Red Dot Sight/ Holographic Sight and the ACOG are rendered useless.

Thermal Scope - Thermal vision is disabled, but the crosshairs remain, essentially becoming a standard sniper scope but with no thermal feature, similar to the RSASS in Resistance Movement. The scope will still be fuzzy whilst under the effect of the EMP.

All killstreak/pointstreak rewards will be destroyed if they are active at the moment that the EMP is deployed, even if a player possesses Assassin Pro. However, there are killstreaks which remain active, including:

the Stealth Bomber and M.O.A.B. will not be destroyed as well; however, it will not deliver its payload, rendering it basically useless. The Stealth Bomber pointstreak in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be destroyed by an EMP.

No enemy killstreak/pointstreak rewards can be activated during duration of an EMP, with the exception of Ballistic Vests.

Despite the fact that Captain Price detonated the EMP, whose effects were seen in "Second Sun", the player suffers from no electronics failure during "Black Tuesday" (except for no minimap, which is due to the Russian's jamming tower).

In the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 World Premiere Multiplayer Trailer, the EMP is an 11 pointstreak, instead of 18 as seen in the final version of the game.